Literary Analysis Paper

 

 

"IND AFF" is a story about a young woman who takes up with an older married man and comes to an important realization which plays an important part in her life. It's about accepting responsibility and understanding the difference between desire that is political and desire that is personal and the relation ship between the two and also the contrast that separates the two most important feelings of a person’s life.
 

Fay Weldon uses the setting of her story to teach a young woman a lesson in morality including life and love. This unnamed young woman narrates the story from the first person point of view. The young woman is the protagonist in is a dynamic character who learns and grows fast. Setting the story in Sarajevo allows Weldon to use historical events. The largest role that setting plays in “IND AFF” is the historical event, which took place in this small town in Bosnia. An murderer named Princip took the life of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, in Sarajevo. Visiting the town of Sarajevo the young woman thinks Princip’s decision to murder the Archduke and his wife, and these thoughts move her into a different course of action. Weldon’s story is filled with irony, as the young woman seeks justification for an affair with a man who was, “supervising my thesis on varying concepts of morality and duty” (Weldon 147). The woman’s sister urges her to:

“ Just go for it, sister. If you can unhinge a marriage, it’s ripe for the unhinging, it would happen sooner or later, it might as well be you” (150).

She wrestles with the idea of destroying a marriage and overlays Princip’s choice to murder. She analyzes her decision and works hard. Princip was determined; he gave his life for the love of his country. This woman is sacrificing morals for a man. She even hesitates to call it true love, and admits that the reason for the trip is to make sure:
That it was the Real Thing, because the longer the indecision went on the longer Mrs. Piper would be left dangling in uncertainty and distress. (147)
 

Weldon uses imagery such as rain to bring Mrs. Piper into the story, though she is not present in Sarajevo. The young woman observes that: A shield of bobbing umbrellas…to keep the rain off the streets shelters every sidewalk It just hadn’t worked around Princip’s corner…it wasn’t that Peter and myself were being singled out. No. It was raining on his wife, too, back in Cambridge(147).  Weldon’s drama Sure thing, Love in L.A and IND AFF are among his most popular works in which he explores his characters beautifully.

Works Cited

Weldons’ original works, Sure Thing, Love in L.A and IND AFF.

 

 

Order Your Custom Term Papers, College Essays and Research Papers